Sunday 23 November 2008 Chat

South African singing star and icon, Miriam Makeba, has died after performing a concert in Italy. She was 76.
Known as Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba was a symbol of the fight against apartheid, had her passport revoked by her own government and as a consequence lived in exile for 30 years.
In 1990 she returned to South Africa at the personal request of Nelson Mandela.
Miriam Makeba was described by Arts Minister, Pallo Jordan, at her memorial service in Johannesburg, as "a woman whose name became synonymous with the worldwide struggle for freedom in South Africa".
President Kgalema Motlanthe paid tribute in a video message.
"Let us say it loud and clear. Miriam Makeba was not affectionately called Mama Africa for nothing. Her music reverberated with consciousness about the real conditions of South Africans."
Born in 1932 she started her singing career in the 50s, mixing traditional songs with jazz.
In 1959 she toured the USA and featured in an anti-apartheid documentary for which the South African Government revoked her passport.
In 1962 she sang at President JF Kennedy's birthday party.
Appearing in 1963 before the UN Special Committee on Apartheid to call for an international boycott of South Africa, the South African Government retaliated by banning all her records, including her hits, Pata pata and The click song.
One of Africa's best known singers, Miriam Makeba was the first black singer to win a Grammy award, sharing it with Harry Belafonte in 1966.
She returned to South Africa in 1990, appeared in occasional TV documentaries and movies and in 2005 began a 'farewell tour' that lasted three years.
Ex president Nelson Mandela said of her, "She was the mother of our struggle and South Africa's first lady of song".

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At last science has proved what so many of us already knew; skinny models turn off buyers.
Researchers have found that images of super-thin models discourage purchases by the majority of adult women.
Whereas so-called plus-size models encourage them to buy.
The study was carried out at the University of Queensland, Australia, using two ads, one with a size 8 model and one using a size 12 model.
Shown to an audience of 400 young women, there was no difference in the likelihood of purchase.
However, women over 18 felt better, and were more likely to buy, after seeing the images of the larger models.
The psychologist conducting the research, Dr Phillipa Diedrichs, said that for anything to change research had to convince not just government and health researchers but also the people in advertising who make the decisions.
"Often people make the argument that thinness sells, and that's why they use slim models."
Whereas in reality, those of us of ample proportions like to be sold to by others of a similar size.
And since women of size 12 and over well exceed the number of women who are sized smaller, presuming that adverts are created to drive sales, then advertisers must have been working against the interests of their clients for years.
There is justice after all!